BET, NetSpend Join To Market Prepaid Payment Card

WASHINGTON – BET Networks is entering the exploding business of prepaid cards, partnering with an industry leader in hopes of reaching millions of black Americans who don’t use banks.

BET, the biggest brand name in black media, is offering the card with NetSpend, one of the biggest prepaid card companies. NetSpend hopes the endorsement will help it convert BETviewers into fee-paying customers.

Blacks are overrepresented among what the financial industry calls the unbanked and underbanked, people who don’t have bank accounts or who use high-cost services like check-cashing and payday loans.

Prepaid cards are like debit cards but aren’t attached to a checking account and sometimes lack the consumer protections offered by debit and credit cards. They are the fastest-growing electronic payment method, according to a 2010 study by the Federal Reserve.